A film about young people who have (for now) survived cancer as a feel-good movie? You have to trust yourself first. Director George Jaques dares to experiment and creates a tragicomedy with a lot of heart and a summery indie soundtrack without any pity factor. His own childhood inspired him to write the script for “Sunny Dancer.” His mother was suffering from breast cancer at the time and, looking back, Jaques describes her fight against the disease as an intense time in which, despite everything, there was always room for moments of lightness. The director, who is just 26 years old, adopts this life-affirming attitude in “Sunny Dancer”, his second feature film after “Black Dog”.
The setting is a special summer camp in Scotland, which his long-time editor Caitlin Spiller brought to his attention. And so Jaques accompanies his 17-year-old protagonist Ivy (“The Last Of Us” star Bella Ramsey) to a “chemo camp,” where she meets others her age with similar cancer stories. It is hardly surprising that Ivy, who has overcome her leukemia and is now in remission, has no desire at all. She just wants to be a normal teenager. After some initial difficulties, Ivy finally fits in with the group – and has the summer of her life at camp.
You can really rely on the camp clique!
The young people complement each other well in terms of personality. Ivy is cynical and impulsive, while Ella (Ruby Stokes) is a lot more naive. She dreams of revealing her innocence to the 24-year-old camp trainer Tristan (Louis Gaunt) to lose. Ralph is the rebel (Earl Cave), Jake (Daniel Quinn-Toye) is sensitive and vulnerable. Archie (Conrad Khan) is the type of quiet outsider, but is still liked by everyone. With its top-class young cast, including from hit series such as “Game Of Thrones”, “Bridgerton” and “Dune: Prophecy”, “Sunny Dancer” follows in the tradition of John Hughes' high school comedy classic “The Breakfast Club”. The watchdog is “How I Met Your Mother” star Neil Patrick Harris as an obsessively good-humored camp leader who also reveals his personal side to Ivy in one scene. By then the tears will flow.
In any case, George Jaques does an excellent job of delivering youthful, rebellious feel-good cinema without hiding the fact that not everything is okay: nurse Brenda (Josie Walker, “Kneecap”) hands out pills to the participants every day and therapist Lucy (Shalom Brune-Franklin, “Baby Reindeer”) invites people to psycho sessions. The gang is always there for each other, even in bad times, and develops an unmistakable feeling for when one of them isn't doing so well. The exuberant camp scenes, as we know them from countless Hollywood summer comedies, distract from difficult fates – but that's exactly the point. “Sunny Dancer” avoids touching scenes at the hospital drip, but instead celebrates the camp as a place of well-being – for the kids and for the audience.
The thumbs-down-thumbs-up dance of Ivy (Bella Ramsey) and her parents plays an important role in the film.
Before the actual filming began, the team spent a week together with typical camp activities such as canoeing, building a raft and dodgeball. This positive energy is also transferred to the film. Humorous and sad moments flow together in “Sunny Dancer”. Since cancer is a part of life, the kids themselves joke about it – and when a limit is crossed, they dance and drink against the pain so that they don't miss out on the best time of their lives in the camp near Glasgow.
Right at the start of the car ride to the cancer camp, Ivy and her untypically cool parents (Jessica Gunning, James Norton) perform a feel-good mini-choreography (the family has a rule that everyone has to take part, no matter how bad they are). For Scissor Sisters' “I Don't Feel Like Dancin'”, the team, together with choreographer Polly Bennett, developed a thumbs-down-thumbs-up dance, which now runs as a powerful, tragicomic element through the entire film up to the final talent show. Of course, not everything is always rosy, because Cancer also has something to say. But friendship and summer definitely help to make everything a little easier to bear.
Conclusion: An absolutely life-affirming coming-of-age tragicomedy from the perspective of cancer kids. “Sunny Dancer” delivers lightness where some might expect more depth. But it is a decision that hits right at the heart of the audience.
We saw “Sunny Dancer” at the Berlinale 2026, where it celebrated its world premiere in the “Generation 14plus” section.